Collins wins Maine race, narrowing Democratic chances for Senate majority

GOP Sen. Susan Collins (Maine) clinched a fifth Senate term on Wednesday, keeping the hotly contested seat in Republican hands.Collins's victory, which comes more than 17 hours after polls in the state closed, makes it increasingly unlikely that Democrats will be able to chart a narrow course back to the Senate majority in 2021.

Democratic nominee Sara Gideon called Collins to concede and The Associated Press called the race shortly before 2 p.m. EST on Wednesday.

"I just received a very gracious call from Sara Gideon conceding the race. I want to publicly thank Sara for her call. We had a good talk," Collins said in Maine.

Collins kept a steady lead in the race and stayed above 50 percent — the threshold for avoiding the race going to ranked choice.

As of early Wednesday afternoon, Collins had 51 percent of the vote compared to Gideon's 42.4 percent with 85 percent of the vote in, according to the AP.